Jerez test - day three: 19 June.

Fernando Alonso again out-paced the best McLaren-Mercedes had to offer as he topped the third day of Formula One testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in southern Spain.

On home soil, the Renault F1 team driver lapped three-tenths quicker than Kimi Raikkonen could manage as he moved between the older MP4-17D and the latest MP8-18. Alonso completed a total of 104 laps during a productive 'in-season' test day, setting his fastest mark late in the day.

Alonso racked up 104 laps - equating to 460km - of valuable track time as the anglo-French team completed its preparations for the forthcoming French and British rounds of the world championship. The Spaniard ran solo, as he had on Wednesday, concentrating primarily on tyre development in two areas. Firstly, Alonso worked on the evaluation of new tyre constructions, before turning his attention to completing longer runs on compounds destined for the two grands prix which will follow next weekend's race at the N?rburgring. The team also tested a number of new suspension settings.

Cristiano da Matta managed to complete the full test schedule that Toyota had planned for the week, covering a total of 233 laps with just one car, and adding more Michelin tyre testing and aerodynamic work to an already busy session.

"It has been a good week, and it has been useful to test here in Jerez because the track conditions are similar to those of the N?rburgring," he observed of a day that, while being sunny and hot, also produced a strong afternoon breeze.

Williams-BMW test driver Marc Gene completed a third day of running by rounding out an intensive tyre development and evaluation for Michelin. The Spaniard has worked on nothing else during the week, and left both team and supplier happy with his findings.

David Coulthard propped up the timesheets, but completed just 16 laps as he and Raikkonen shared the one remaining MP4-18 and an MP4-17D following test driver Alex Wurz's Tuesday crash.

Leading performances (19 June):

Fernando Alonso Renault-Renault 1min 19.768secs 104 lapsKimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes 1min 20.089secs 73 lapsCristiano da Matta Toyota-Toyota 1min 20.535secs 93 lapsMarc Gene Williams-BMW 1min 20.719secs 68 lapsDavid Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1min 21.708secs 16 laps

[all cars on Michelin tyres.]

Track / weather conditions: Dry, sunny, hot